


are you a star?

by valety



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, Other, POV Second Person, Post-Pacifist Route, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-23 09:36:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6112453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valety/pseuds/valety
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's going to be a meteor shower. Chara's unusually excited about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	are you a star?

**Author's Note:**

> fluff. nothing but fluff. cotton-candy-marshmallow-fluff, with happy gushy cuddly babies and no pain whatsoever

The air smells cold, like coming snow. The moon and stars gleam jewel-bright, hanging so low in the sky that you almost think that you could pluck them if you dared. If you did, then you could sink your teeth into them, like glittering silver apples. They'd taste like cold sugar, you decide, clean and sweet, and you begin to giggle as you run through the field, arms spread wide and dreaming about stars. 

The night has you feeling giddy. You want to spin, dance, roll through the grass, and somewhere far behind you, Asriel is saying, "Chara, slow down!"

 _"Hurry up!"_ you shout back. "I'm not slowing down for you!"

You hear him groan. Laughing, you continue bounding forward, moving deeper and deeper into the night.

You feel absolutely wild tonight. You know that it's partially from being out so late, adrenaline and sleep-deprivation mixing into a dangerous cocktail of excitement, but _still._ The sky is perfectly clear, and when you look up, you see endless stars, thousands and thousands of them. How can anyone be calm with an entire ocean of light above them?

It's mild for January, but still cold enough that the air leaves your mouth in little puffs of white. It's proof that you can breathe, you think. Proof that you're alive. Air from your lungs that rises to the moon, bits of your soul floating to the stars, a part of you that will live forever in the sky. Not trapped in a house that wasn't home, not locked in the rotting, underground, but _free,_ finally and truly free.

There's no snow, but the grass still crunches underfoot. The ground will probably be too cold to sit on. Fortunately, you have a portable heater with you. He'll probably be more than happy to let you crawl onto his lap if you decide to.

Somewhere on the other side of the field is your family. Everyone you've ever cared for is there, gathered for tonight's meteor shower. Sans and Alphys brought their telescopes and binoculars, Papyrus and Undyne are carrying, like, fifty more lawn chairs than is really necessary, Toriel, Asgore, and Frisk have brought snacks, blankets, and thermoses full of hot tea. Tonight, like that very first sunrise after shattering the barrier, is something everybody wanted to be a part of. It's something there had been no Underground equivalent of—nothing that would have done it justice, anyway—and for all of you to be able to see it like this, alive, unchained, is the ultimate proof that monsterkind is finally free. 

You're going to watch with them, of course. Hell, you had been the one to find the perfect viewing spot; a wide-open field on the outskirts of the city, far, far away from all the city lights. You'll be sure to join them before the shower actually begins so that you can fully bask in your success. You're expecting them to shower you with praise when they realize just how excellent your chosen location really is. 

But first, you want a little bit of time to yourself. Everyone else has seen plenty of meteor showers by now, even if they still get all worked up about them, yet this is the first time for you and Asriel since getting your bodies back. 

You'd been trapped for far too long.

Eventually, Asriel catches up with you. He makes a big show of huffing and puffing, even though you know he's made of tougher stuff than that. Tougher stuff than you are, at least. You snicker, socking him on the arm before grabbing his hand and dragging him to the very edge of the field.

"Do you remember when we were little?" you ask as you tug him along. "And you took me to Waterfall the first time?"

"Of course I do," he says. "You pushed me in the garbage dump for showing you 'knockoff stars.'"

"They _were_ knockoffs.  _Look_ at this!" you say, dropping his hand so that you can throw open your arms, as though they alone can somehow span the infinity of the universe. "Waterfall is nothing like this! I mean, it's pretty and all, but rocks can't compare to _actual stars!"_

Asriel obediently tips back his head to look, like a good boy. You're torn between wanting to look up yourself (and  _oh,_ how you've missed starlight; starlight was one of the few things from the surface that you truly hungered for while Underground) and wanting to reward him somehow. You settle for lunging at him, throwing your arms around his waist and tackling him to the ground. Despite his girth, he falls easily, landing with an _oof._ You snicker as he glares at you.

"The best way to look at stars is lying down," you explain.

"You didn't have to try and kill me to get me to lie down," he huffs, but you ignore him, rolling off his stomach so that you're lying on the ground beside him. It's just as cold as you expected, but you don't care. Adrenaline is still pumping through you, keeping you warm, and you can always snuggle up to him and steal some of his heat should the need arise. All that fur has to be good for _some_ thing.

"Show me you favourite stars," Asriel says as you curl up against him. "I want to know all about them."

You frown.

"I don't know very much actual astronomy," you admit. You've always loved looking at the sky, as well as reading stories about constellations, but you'd never had much time to study them before. Astronomy had been pointless, apparently, and so you'd had to do most of your studying in secret when you weren't doing homework.

Still, you know a little bit. And so you point up at the sky and say, "Do you see those three stars in a row?"

"I think so."

"That's Orion's belt. All those stars together make up Orion, the hunter." Asriel is silent, and so you add, "The gods hung him in the sky after his death. There are a lot of different stories as to how he actually died, but most of them involve a scorpion. The scorpion has a constellation too, but they're never in the sky together."

"I can't see it," Asriel confesses after a moment. "I see the belt, but the rest just looks like a bunch of stars."

"That's okay," you say, lowering your arm. "Constellations never actually look like what they're supposed to."

You try to sound relaxed, unbothered, but suddenly you find yourself thinking, _what if he thinks all of this is boring?_   Worse, what if he thinks you're stupid for not knowing more? What if he's disappointed that you're not some secret genius after all?

You sneak a sideways glance at Asriel, but despite his confession, his expression is still rapt, and you're relieved. 

You smile, and on an impulse, you roll over, throwing your arms around him and hooking your leg around his waist.

"Aren't stars cool?" you ask.

"The coolest," Asriel breathes, slipping his arms around you.

He holds you and you hold him. Then, after another moment, Asriel says, "I always wondered if I was getting them right."

"Getting what right?"

"Stars," he explains. "Like in my magic. You talked about them sometimes, and you made them sound so cool, and you seemed to like them so much, so I tried to make my magic look like stars. I...I thought maybe they'd be at least a little better than the ones in Waterfall." 

You're not blushing, definitely not, but you still can't answer him immediately. You think of his magic, of the infinite rain of brilliantly-coloured stars, and you think, _was that for me as well?_

He's done so much for you. He's still _doing_ so much for you. Even when he doesn't know a goddamn thing, even when he makes mistake after mistake, he's still trying, always trying. You've never had somebody try so hard for you before.

"I'm sorry I'm not a real astronomy nerd," you say at last, settling for a change in topic, because the only answers you can think of to what he just said are embarrassing as hell.

"That's all right," Asriel says, and a large, warm hand brushes over your head, smoothing down your hair. "They're still there even if you don't know their names."

Your smile grows even wider. It's real smile, a proper smile, and you wonder, _when did I learn to smile normally?_  You didn't even need to practice; apparently it just _happened_ one day.

"They _are,_ aren't they?" you say. "Even if I can't name them, they're still shining. We can still see them, even if we lose track of them sometimes. You're so _smart."_

You reach up and stroke his cheek, and Asriel looks confused, as though he doesn't realize that he just said something kind of cool. That's okay. He doesn't have to know. He's better when he's kind of dopey. It makes it easier to tease him. 

You take a long, deep breath of cool night air as you settle back against his side. It leaves you feeling clean. You've never felt more whole than you do right now, lying by Asriel's side, eyes fixed on the cloudless black shot through with glimmering pinpoints above you.

You'll go swimming when the weather's warm, you think. Every night you'll see the stars together if you want to. You'll always have a home waiting for you. Nobody will try to pin you down. Nobody will tell you not to fly. You have the whole night to yourself now.

You feel drunk on stars and full of kisses, and so you pull yourself upright, leaning over Asriel and pressing your mouth against his.

When you pull away, his eyes are full of stars as well, and they're more beautiful than the sky could ever hope to be.

"We can go anywhere," you say, cupping his jaw with your hand. "We can do _anything._ We can go to space someday. We can meet Orion in person. We can say hi to Rigel. We can spend the rest of our lives _right here._ Nobody can stop us."

And wordlessly, Asriel pulls himself upright as well.

With you still straddling his lap, he kisses you as well.

Everything is beautiful. Everything is exactly how it should have always been.

Finally, Asriel pulls away, saying, "We _could_ spend the rest of our lives right here, but I think we should probably go back and join everybody."

You groan, slumping against his chest. You don't want to go, not yet. You want to pretend that the two of you finally have forever. You want to pretend that forever is actually enough.

Asriel slowly untangles his limbs from yours. He rises to his feet, pulling you upright as well despite your mumbled protests.

The two of you don't leave immediately, because you hesitate once you have his hand in yours.

You turn it over and begin to trace his palm with your finger, drawing all the constellations you can think of that you couldn't find, making a silent wish with every star you draw. You have so many wishes now. It's been a long, long time since you've felt anything resembling hope, and now you have more dreams than you can count. You need as many stars as possible. 

"What are you doing?" Asriel asks, looking amused.

"I want to study astronomy properly now," you say. It's not an answer, but at the same time, it kind of is.

Either way, Asriel seems satisfied. "Will you teach me what you learn?" he asks.

"Of course. I want to show off for you," you say, and you lift his hand to your mouth, kissing his palm, kissing all your constellations. 

You think he might be blushing when he turns away. You sure hope so. It's so funny when he blushes. 

Hand-in-hand, the two of you begin your walk across the field, back to the side where everyone is gathered. You don't know what time it is exactly, only that it must be around midnight. Normally you would be dreaming now, having restless nightmares of the time Before or about the emptiness of almost-death. Yet you're not; you're awake, and you're alive, and for once you _want_ to be, because if you weren't alive, you wouldn't be here right now. 

Maybe that's the secret. Maybe you just need to find those little reasons to keep going. Even if everything else is garbage, if you can have the starlight, then maybe everything will be okay.

"It's nice seeing you so happy," Asriel says. He sounds almost shy. You wonder what he'd do if you said something sappy like _I'm happy because I'm here with you._

"I hate people," you say instead.

You guess it really says a lot about you that Asriel doesn't seem surprised by your response. Instead, he nods.

"And you know what?" you add. "I'm not gonna deal with them anymore, because _fuck_ people."

He doesn't interrupt. He doesn't say _not all humans,_ even though you're thinking it, privately remembering Frisk. For that alone you want to kiss him again.

"That doesn't mean I can't enjoy the stars, though," you continue, and you give his hand a gentle squeeze, because it's there and it's yours to squeeze. "The world sucks, but this part of it is good. I'm not letting anybody take that away from me ever again."

"I'm glad," Asriel says, and he smiles, eyes warm.

Then, behind his head, you see it.

A streak of silver, winking out of existence as fast as it came.

"There!" you shout, pointing behind him, and he whirls around.

Everywhere, everywhere, stars are falling. You hear Asriel's sharp intake of breathe, and that is when you grab his hand and start to run. This time, you do so with him by your side, not leaving him to chase you, and the two of you are shooting stars yourselves, racing towards the horizon where you can see a tiny silhouette frantically waving their arms at you. A laugh is bubbling up somewhere inside you. Not mocking or afraid for once, but _happy._

"Make a wish!" you shout to Asriel beside you. _"_ We saw a falling star, you have to make a wish! _Don't_ say it already came true or I'll bite you!"

Asriel stops in his tracks, but he doesn't let go of your hand. Instead he tugs you backwards, and before you can react, he ducks down and kisses you.

The kiss is hard and full of fireworks, and when he pulls away, he's grinning and says, _"Now_ it's come true."

You gag, and Asriel laughs, and you say, "You can kiss me anytime, don't waste a wish on _that,"_ and Asriel replies, "Then we'll have to do this again sometime so I can make a better wish."

Asriel's a sap. He's a sap and he's embarrassing and you _could_ point out that there are countless other stars he could be wishing on right now. But he's laughing, and you're laughing as well, and you can't bring yourself to feel annoyed. In fact, as you rejoin your family underneath the silver rain, you feel only joy.


End file.
